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Fiction

Notes intellectual conversation. The same year Virginia was born, for instance, her father began
editing the huge Dictionary of National Biography. Virginia’s mother, more delicate than her
husband, helped to bring out the more emotional sides of her children. Both parents were very
strong personalities; Virginia would feel overshadowed by them for years.
Virginia would suffer through three major mental breakdowns during her lifetime, and she
would die during a fourth. In all likelihood, the compulsive drive to work that she acquired
from her parents, combined with her naturally fragile state, primarily contributed to these
breakdowns. Yet other factors were important as well. Her first breakdown occurred shortly
following the death of her mother in 1895, which Virginia later described as “the greatest
disaster that could have happened.” Some have suggested that Virginia felt guilt over choosing
her father as her favorite parent. In any case, her father’s excessive mourning period probably
affected her adversely.
Two years later, Virginia’s stepsister Stella Duckworth died. Stella had assumed charge of the
household duties after their mother’s death, causing a rift between her and Virginia. Virginia
fell sick soon after Stella’s death. The same year, Virginia began her first diary.
Over the next seven years, Virginia’s decision to write took hold and her admiration for
women grew. She educated herself and greatly admired women such as Madge Vaughan,
daughter of John Addington Symonds, who wrote novels and would later be illustrated as
Sally Seton in Mrs. Dalloway.

Task Write the biography of Virginia woolf.

Her admiration for strong women was coupled with a growing dislike for male domination
in society. Virginia’s feelings were likely affected by her relationship to her stepbrother,
George Duckworth, who was fourteen when Virginia was born. In the last year of her life,
Virginia wrote to a friend regarding the shame she felt when, at the age of six, she was
fondled by George. Similar incidents recurred throughout her childhood until Virginia was
in her early twenties. In 1904 her father died, shortly after finishing the Dictionary and
receiving a knighthood. Though freed from his shadow, Virginia was overcome by the event
and suffered her second mental breakdown, combined with scarlet fever and an attempted
suicide.
When she recovered, Virginia left Kensington with her three siblings and moved to Bloomsbury,
where she began to consider herself a serious artist. She immersed herself in the intellectual
company of her brother Thoby and his Cambridge friends. This group, including E.M. Forster
and Lytton Strachey, later formed what was known as the Bloomsbury Group, under the
Cambridge don G.E. Moore. They were dedicated to the liberal discussion of politics and art.
In 1906, Thoby died of typhoid fever and Virginia’s sister married one of Thoby’s college
friends, Clive Bell.
Over the next four years, Virginia would begin work on her first novel, The Voyage Out
(1915). In 1909, she accepted a marriage proposal from Strachey, who later broke off the
engagement. She received a legacy of 2,500 pounds the same year, which would allow
her to live independently. In 1911, Leonard Woolf, another of the Bloomsbury Group,
returned from Ceylon, and they were married in 1912. Woolf was the stable presence
Virginia needed to control her moods and steady her talent. He gave their home a musical
atmosphere.

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